Cee Lo Green is applying an extra level of meaning to his surname with his latest venture.
The "F— You" belter and coach for NBC's "The Voice" is launching a new organization to make environmental education more accessible to kids in under-served school districts, the singer said in a release Tuesday.
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The nonprofit organization, dubbed the GreenHouse Foundation, will officially launch Aug. 17. Green co-founded the organization with his sister, Shedonna Alexander.
The GreenHouse Foundation "will educate, inspire and influence children to become responsible stewards of their environment, communities and future," according to the release. Its first initiative, The Green Garden Education Program, will help schools build outdoor green gardens on campuses and introduce “green education” into their everyday curriculum. Ultimately, the produce created from the initiative will go toward the less privileged who don't have access to fresh fruit and vegetables.
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“Through the Green Garden Education Program, the GreenHouse Foundation is supporting schools with the tools, curriculum, and resources necessary to create and maintain an outdoor ‘teaching garden,'" Green said. "With the garden as the primary focus, children will learn the fundamentals of gardening along with the health and environmental benefits of growing their own produce. Children will also learn how to start and manage their own school farmers market. The hands of our children will help feed those in need, like the homeless or elderly who live in ‘grocery deserts’ with no access to fresh produce.”
Future initiatives will include “The School Waste Diversion Initiative", which will provide schools with waste receptacles to divert non-biodegradable waste from local landfills and create a local competition among the schools.
The official launch will take place with a dedication on the campus of Southwest-Atlanta Christian Academy, where Green attended elementary school, and which will serve as the foundation's first GreenHouse School Partner. The first “teaching GreenHouse” will be dedicated in memory of Green and Alexander's late mother, Sheila J. Callaway Tyler.